Nicole Kidman to make heartbreak feel even better in a place like this with second AMC ad
The actor will be not just entertained, but somehow reborn in the new spot
Aux News Nicole Kidman
The ad that launched a thousand memes and dramatic readings is getting a sequel. Vanity Fair has confirmed that Nicole Kidman is set to appear in another AMC Theatres commercial, following last month’s news that she will continue to be the cinema chain’s celebrity spokesperson for another year.
Since its debut a year ago, the ad has made a remarkable impact on moviegoers. Following the The Hours Oscar-winner as she strolls into a theater and extols the virtues of “dazzling images on a huge silver screen,” the clip is unforgettable for its depiction of Kidman sitting alone in a sparkly pinstriped suit and lines like “Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this.”
“When Nicole first asked me to do it, I was just doing it as a favor,” screenwriter Billy Ray tells Vanity Fair. “I said I would do it for free just because I’m a fan and a friend of hers. My agent said, ‘No, that’s not what’s happening here. You need to be paid for this.’ And it turns out my agent was right, because it’s had real value.”
Kidman personally reached out to Ray after the two worked together on 2015's Secret In Their Eyes, and they’re set to collaborate again on The Silent Wife. (In the meantime, Kidman is currently filming a Netflix movie that will almost certainly be streamed at home—awkward!) Sure, she has a decades-long career, but Ray has certainly bolstered the Big Little Lies star in one of her most compelling performances yet, and the pressure is on for the second AMC ad, which has already been written.
“I’m very, very excited about it,” Ray says. “All I can tell you about it is we are not dumb enough to fly in the face of the one we’ve already done and try to top it. So it’s a very, very different approach that is a little bit of a wink to the one we’ve already done.”
Ray previously got an Oscar nomination for Captain Phillips, but it seems like the minute-long ad is going to be even more difficult to follow up. Still, it sounds like he has plenty of support in this endeavor.
“Of course it’s with Nicole,” Ray confirms. “I’m not doing it without Nicole.”
4 Comments
Do people outside the Film Twitter bubble have any strong feelings for this ad? Like, yes, I hear people talk about it constantly… but the people talking about it are exclusively the type of person who pays for a premium Letterboxd subscription.
Yeah, this is a weird thing to get upset about.
Obviously movie theaters want you to think the movie theater experience is amazing.
And given the choice of the “let’s all go to the lobby” cartoon characters and one of the biggest movie stars in the world, they’re going with the movie star.
There is no situation where “Oscar-winner” would ever be correct. Seems like a pretty easy thing to remember
‘My agent said, ‘No, that’s not what’s happening here. You need to be paid for this.’…because your agent isn’t going to settle for 15% of free.